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The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon), Dundee
Dundee
DD1 1SP
Pub Type
J D WetherspoonReviews (Current Rating Average: 6½ of 10) see review guidelines
Quinno _ left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
The city’s Spoons is converted from an old bank; whilst there’s a bit of retained grandeur in the cornices it’s otherwise a fairly standard JDW fit-out of the post Victoriana era. ‘Wider than it is deep’ is a good description. Four guest cask alongside the usual stagers, my Belhaven 80/- was decent (NBSS 3) and the atmosphere surprisingly relaxed for a Friday night. GBG’24 listed.
On 26th January 2024
- rating: 7
[User has posted 5072 recommendations about 5055 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
Externally an excellent historic building with not so much Wetherspoons branding. In fact I visited the McMannus museum a day earlier and walked around the square without noticing it.
Sadly though, internally it’s had the full ‘spoons blanding treatment and outside of a couple of decent pillars there’s not a lot to commend it.
And also for my visit sadly no beer festival in operation and no CAMRA AGM in town and the beer choice was not great. Firstly only five of each bank of six were in operation and four of these were doubled up between the two sets. I counted three Scottish ales from the six different beers which you could argue is three more than a lot of the keg only establishments in town but not what I’d set my expectations on.
The locals didn’t seem to mind though and the place was rammed on my Saturday lunchtime visit and it was standing at the high tables only.
It was all a bit disappointing really and I hope I caught it on a bad day beer wise.
On 17th August 2019
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2109 recommendations about 1991 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
Quite an impressive building, formerly a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland, but given a disappointingly nondescript 'spoons treatment inside. Now comprises a large rectangular bar with a smaller slightly raised area at one end. With Camra's 2019 AGM meeting being hosted in the city at the time of this revisit, it was no surprise to find an excellent choice of mostly festival beers from the two banks of six handpumps.
On 22nd April 2019
- rating: 7
[User has posted 8086 recommendations about 8086 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
This is a fairly large branch of Wetherspoons in an ornate former branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in the middle of Dundee city centre. The large interior is a fair bit wider than it is deep and has been carpeted throughout with the servery to be found along the back wall. Large mirrored pillars break the space opposite the bar a little, which has an intricate wooden frontage. High tables and stools fill the space between the entrance and the bar, whilst standard tables and chairs occupy much of the remaining space to either side. At the far end of the room there are two raised seating areas with some limited banquettes, making it arguably the nicest, most secluded spot in the pub to bag a seat in. A couple of TV screens at one end of the room were showing the usual news channels and there were some bits of art and a few old local photos dotted around the place. Aside from this, the decor is fairly restrained, allowing customers to appreciate the grandeur of this building, including some attractive decorative friezes that run their way around the ceiling lintels.
I counted seven guest ales on the bar as well and four ‘Spoons regulars and one ‘Coming Soon’ clip, which seems like a decent ratio to me. I was in early for breakfast, so gave the ales a swerve on this occasion, but the food was pretty good and certainly better than some others I endured during my time in Scotland.
This is a pretty interesting ‘Spoons that doesn’t live up to the chain’s bank conversions in Glasgow or Aberdeen but does rank as far more impressive than your average Scottish ‘Spoons. I quite enjoyed this one and intended to return to sample the ale later in the day, but my crawl got a little out of hand and that sadly never happened.
On 30th May 2018
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
john gray left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
I liked this one.Very busy but had atmosphere.Plenty of Scottish beers on the bar from Fyne,Orkney,Strathavon ,Atlas and Lions Lair.Very good condition as well.
On 23rd October 2016
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1023 recommendations about 1009 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
This one is fairly obviously a bank conversion and consists of a large L shaped room that retains the ornate ceiling from when it was a bank. Other than that it's a fairly typical outlet.
Although there are twelve hand pumps the selection wasn't as good as it could be with one unused, two festival ciders, a local lager that I couldn't get to see, Abbot & Doom Bore doubled up, Cotswold Spring OSM, Blindman Icarus, Strathaven Ginger Jock, Old Speckled Hen and Moorhouse's White Mist.
I went for a festival cider here so can't comment on the beer quality. It seemed like a fairly average Spoons to me but like most of the Spoons tried on my visit to Scotland it had Locale beers on. England should take note.
On 19th July 2016
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
hondo . left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
By the numbers spoons. The beer festival was on so a good selection of beers.
On 2nd November 2010
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2883 recommendations about 2820 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Counting House (JD Wetherspoon)
Not a lot to say really. Wetherspoons from a converted bank, with more beers available here than at the Lloyds No 1. Had the Barnsley Gold which was in good condition.
On 17th August 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
William Purnell left this review about Counting House
This is a J D Wetherspoon establishment with the address being 67-71 Reform Street
On 18th October 2009
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 218 recommendations about 205 pubs]